Givins, Spicer and Lowry Trail

Canyon, Texas

Palo is the Spanish word for “stick” and duro means “hard,” thus Palo Duro Canyon was named in reference to the juniper, an evergreen of particular density, which grows throughout the canyon. It is a relatively mundane name for such a remarkable place, a canyon that embodies much of Texas history and the story of the Panhandle Plains.
But a hike through the contorted rock along the Givens, Spicer & Lowry Trail suggests a more compelling and ancient history, in fact, the embodiment of prehistory itself. The oldest sedimentary rock exposed in Palo Duro Canyon is from the Permian Period around 230 million years ago. It is what paleontologists refer to as “unfossiliferous” or absent of fossils.

Palo is the Spanish word for “stick” and duro means “hard,” thus Palo Duro Canyon was named in reference to the juniper, an evergreen of particular density, which grows throughout the canyon. It is a relatively mundane name for such a remarkable place, a canyon that embodies much of Texas history and the story of the Panhandle Plains.

But a hike through the contorted rock along the Givens, Spicer & Lowry Trail suggests a more compelling and ancient history, in fact, the embodiment of prehistory itself. The oldest sedimentary rock exposed in Palo Duro Canyon is from the Permian Period around 230 million years ago. It is what paleontologists refer to as “unfossiliferous” or absent of fossils.